Saizoo
Let’s choose the Later-Han dynasty as the first empire which served as a prototype for all empires. Furthermore if we apply Morning Musume and AKB to the era of the three kingdoms after the Later-Han dynasty you could come to the composition that
- Morning Musume who picked up the concept of Onyanko Club which made the amateur feeling their salespoint, but put the emphasis on dance and musical composition, improving the level of performance and transforming the members into “Proidols” and thus crushed the “amateur illusions” of Onyanko and became successful, is the kingdom of Wei and
- AKB which was revived by Akimoto Yasuishi who thought “Let’s give the amateur illusions of the Onyanko Club another go!” and seeks success in the scenario of idols with the girl-next-door feel growing into adulthood is the kingdom of Shu-Han.
- “The most extreme one is Idoling with it’s race games where the male staff serves as obstacles for example! In any case there’s lots of contact with the opposite sex. I don’t know what the wota think about it, but the content is interesting to that extent.” says a male AKB fan.
Idoling’s main show is being broadcasted through several media e.g. CS, internet, terrestrial television and is also one part of Fuji TV’s “Digital Media Crossing Project”. For that reason they haven’t picked up a typical business model targeting idol otaku yet, which on the contrary might be the reason for their success. In other words, Idoling could be compared to the kingdom of Wu which administrated it’s political power from the rich riverlands of Jiangdong.
On this page we want to give a summary of the facts of these “three kingdoms” divided into several categories. Now which group will get to control the era of the three kingdoms where the law of the jungle reigns?
Let’s make sure of it with the eyes of a wota!
They fight for the leadership putting their survival on the line!
The “secret” state analysis of the 3 big idol kingdoms
Morning Musume
The former big kingdom which discovered means of escape overseas
Country name: Morning Musume
Founding date: September 1997
Emperor: Tsunku♂
Number of military commanders: 9
Race: Upfront Agency
Ever since SPEED broke up in 2000, Hello! Project has defeated their numerous rivals and reigned at the top of the world of female idols. Their figurehead Morning Musume can be compared to the kingdom of Wei of the tale of the three kingdoms. If we include the graduated members, the H!P kids C-ute and Berryz Koubou which make up the main force of H!P nowadays and the lower branch of H!P egg members, we get a large family whose number of members lightly surpasses the number of AKB members. It has an abundance of talented members and the administration holds back the discharge of wota by cleverly entwining the alternation of generations.
However, due to the continuous scandals of former and current members last year, their image deteriorated and one can’t deny the feeling that this nation’s power and influence is decreasing. With the addition of Chinese members, live concerts in Taiwan and South Korea, they aim for the Asian market, but will it work out?
Live activities:
The agency they belong to manages enka artists too, but the heart of it’s business is “show business” and “sale of goods”. The live concert which used to take place in Japan Budokan before takes place in Nakano Sun Plaza now etc. It’s noticeable that the scale of everything is decreasing, but even now the concerts are still completely sold out, as one would expect of them.
Fanservice:
The “MoWota” who are proud to be the group of fans who have the highest number of members in the world of idol business. Lately some of the MoWota went over to the junior units Berryz Koubou, C-ute or to completely different idols, but the wota activities are safeguarded by measures like making it possible to watch the PV of the new singles on the official site etc.
Awareness of rivals:
In last year’s Kouhaku Utagassen the current leader Takahashi Ai said regarding AKB who were interviewed at the same time: “We don’t want to lose to them!” and thus declared AKB as their rival. On the other hand regarding Idoling, MM member Michishige Sayumi declared that she’s a fan of them, so we have the impression that they have a friendly relation.
Media situation:
Haromoni@ broadcast time and date: 12:25~ every sunday
Broadcasting office: TV Tokyo
This show which is the reduced version of the forerunner “Hello! Morning” is their only main TV program. The fans found it hopelessly boring and the viewership ratings of the broadcast on May 4th fell below 1%.
AKB48
The descendants of the Onyanko Club who transformed into a great nation through public agitation
Country name: AKB48
Founding date: December 2005
Emperor: Akimoto Yasuishi
Number of military commanders: 48
Race: Horipro, Ohtapro, Production Ogi and others.
We’d like to compare the kingdom of Shu-Han which was founded by Liu Bei who called himself the descendant of Liu Sheng from the Han Dynasty with AKB48 who claim to be the legitimate successors of Onyanko, the empire from the 80s, both produced by Akimoto Yasuishi. Following the principle of “idols you can go and meet” the distance between the idols and theirs fans is close. Aiming for a live performance in the Tokyo Dome, AKB performed live everyday in a private theater set up in Akihabara and steadily gained more and more fans. At the end of last year they finally managed to perform in NHK Kouhaku Utagassen.
However the propaganda video used to make fans buy multiple copies of CDs for the “The evil handshake event” posed a problem and was bashed in the internet. The truth is that other idol groups do the same kind of thing, but maybe it was too provocative in this case. The ruler Akimoto Yasuishi might have simply misread the fastidious disposition of the modern internet wotaku. Well, the fans in question don’t care too much about it though.
Live activities:
AKB performed almost everyday in their private theater in Akihabara and at the end of last month they’ve had their 1000th performance since opening. The charm of AKB is the closeness to the idols. But since the fans are fundamentally used to watch while sitting, there are lots of fans who want a live in a concert hall which hasn’t happened since July last year.
Fanservice:
It’s a gathering of people who have been underground idol wotaku for a long time. The fans and the management have a close relation and regular customers have advantages such as receiving goods and reserved seats which makes new fans want to stick to them. However since the tickets have been sold on a subscription basis through the internet, there are signs of a decline in sales.
Awareness of rivals:
After hearing what Morning Musume’s Takahashi said in last year’s NHK Kouhaku, leader character Ooshima Mai commented in a composed way: “I’d like all of us to do our best and enjoy it together.”
However there are many AKB members who joined the world of show business because they admired Morning Musume.
Media situation:
“AKB 0ji59fun!” broadcast time and date: 24:59~ every monday
Broadcasting office: Nihon TV
As for terrestrial tv shows this is the only one, but they have 2 shows broadcast through satellite including the new show which started in July. Horipro’s Ooshima Mai and other members who belong to the major agencies have solo work too.
Idoling!!!
Allied nations rapidly getting power through their “Frontal attack” strategy
Country name: Idoling!!!
Founding date: October 2006
Emperor: Yoshida Masaki
Number of military commanders: 17
Race: Nabepro, Box Corporation, Shochiku Geinou, Horipro, Production Ogi and others
Idoling which is an alliance of several idols belonging to different productions can be compared to the alliance of powerful clans, the kingdom of Wu. The girls’ main TV show “Idoling!!!”, which is also their “home”, is Fuji TV’s first tv show being broadcast through the internet. Fuji TV puts quite a lot of strength into Idoling and has a first-class staff led by general producer Yoshida Masaki working on it. The content of the show is pretty much like a “frontal attack” with games like having to put your hand into the trouser pocket of a male announcer and gues the object in the pocket. It contains a lot of stuff you’d never get to see if it was a real idol show. “The quality of the show is extremely high for a variety show” is what the fans say. On the other hand there are people who say their skill as singers and dancers is low compared to the other groups.
Live activities:
The heart of their activities are their TV shows, so they had only 2 real live concerts so far. However they often perform in all kinds of events like “Bouken’ou” organized by Fuji. You can also watch the filming of the show live on-location as they accept guests at any time. This way you can watch live performances in the studio.
Fanservice:
Since they’re relatively new and the satellite and internet broadcasting is a good weapon, the number of H!P wota and wota of other idols among the Idoling fanbase is quite high. The fans and idols are very close, so there are also cases where wota of other idol groups get tired of the desperate wota life and stick to Idoling.
Awareness of rivals:
There aren’t many opportunities to perform in front of an audience and Idoling is a gathering of talents who belong to different productions anyway, so if there’s an awareness of rivals, it’s amongst the Idoling members themselves. Identically to AKB48, there are quite a few Idoling members who are H!P fans.
Media situation:
“Idoling!!!” broadcast time and date: 17:00~ from Monday to Friday
Broadcasting office: Fuji TV 721
This TV show broadcast through satellite is the heart of their activities. There’s also a terrestrial broadcast of a summary of the episodes late at night on Thursdays. The show gained popularity through it’s comedic elements like the “Pie throwing game” etc.
